IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 343 

Expressing concern regarding persistent and credible reports of systematic, 

state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience in the People’s Republic of China, including from large numbers 

of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other religious and ethnic 

minority groups. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2015 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. 

POE of Texas, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. 

FARR, and Mr. VALADAO) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing concern regarding persistent and credible reports 

of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from 

non-consenting prisoners of conscience in the People’s 

Republic of China, including from large numbers of 

Falun Gong practitioners and members of other religious 

and ethnic minority groups. 

Whereas when performed in accordance with ethical standards, the medical discipline of organ transplantation is 

one of the great achievements of modern medicine; 


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•HRES 343 IH 

Whereas Chinese authorities reported in 2011 that the majority of organs used for transplantation in China were procured from executed prisoners; 

Whereas voluntary and informed consent is the precondition 

for ethical organ donation and international medical organizations state that prisoners, deprived of their freedom, are not in the position to give free consent and that 

the practice of sourcing organs from prisoners is a violation of ethical guidelines in medicine; 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

and Communist Party of China continue to deny reports 

that many organs are taken without the consent of prisoners yet at the same time prevents independent 

verification of its transplant system; 

Whereas the organ transplantation system in China does not 

comply with the World Health Organization’s requirement of transparency and traceability in organ procurement pathways; 

Whereas the United States Department of State Country Report on Human Rights for China for 2013 stated, ‘‘Advocacy groups continued to report instances of organ harvesting from prisoners’’; 

Whereas Huang Jiefu, director of the China Organ Donation 

Committee, announced in December 2014 that China 

would end the practice of organ harvesting from executed 

prisoners by January 1, 2015, but failed to address 

organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience; 

Whereas rates of voluntary organ donation in China remain 

severely depressed and are insufficient to account for the 

volume of organ transplant procedures performed; 


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•HRES 343 IH 

Whereas Falun Gong, a spiritual practice involving meditative 

‘‘qigong’’ exercises and centered on the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, became immensely popular in the 1990s; 

Whereas in July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party 

launched an intensive, nationwide persecution designed to 

eradicate the spiritual practice of Falun Gong, reflecting 

the party’s long-standing intolerance of large independent 

civil society groups; 

Whereas since 1999, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong 

practitioners have been detained extra-legally in reeducation-through-labor camps, detention centers, and prisons, 

where torture and abuse are routine; 

Whereas in many detention facilities and labor camps, Falun 

Gong prisoners of conscience comprise the majority of the 

population, and have been said to receive the longest sentences and the worst treatment; 

Whereas former Falun Gong prisoners of conscience have reported receiving targeted medical exams in detention designed to assess the health of their organs, which other 

prisoner groups were generally not subjected to; 

Whereas Freedom House reported in 2015 that Falun Gong 

practitioners comprise the largest portion of prisoners of 

conscience in China, and face an elevated risk of dying 

or being killed in custody; 

Whereas in 2006, Canadian researchers David Matas, human 

rights attorney, and David Kilgour, former Canadian 

Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, conducted an independent investigation into allegations of organ harvesting 

from Falun Gong prisoners in China, and concluded that 


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•HRES 343 IH 

Falun Gong prisoners were the only plausible source for 

41,500 organ transplants performed from 2000 to 2005; 

Whereas their report found that agents of the Chinese state 

have conducted ‘‘large-scale organ seizures from unwilling 

Falun Gong practitioners’’, whose vital organs ‘‘were 

seized involuntarily for sale at high prices, sometimes to 

foreigners, who normally face long waits for voluntary donations of such organs in their home countries’’; 

Whereas Matas and Kilgour have implicated state and party 

entities in illicit organ harvesting, including domestic security services and military hospitals; 

Whereas researcher and journalist Ethan Gutmann estimates 

that approximately 65,000 Falun Gong adherents may 

have been killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008, and 

that a number of other religious and ethnic minorities 

may also have been targeted; 

Whereas Gutmann published findings that Chinese security 

agencies began harvesting organs from members of the 

predominantly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority group in 

the 1990s, including from Uyghur political prisoners; 

Whereas the United Nations Committee Against Torture and 

the Special Rapporteur on Torture have expressed concern over the allegations of organ harvesting from Falun 

Gong prisoners, and have called on the Government of 

the People’s Republic of China to increase accountability 

and transparency in the organ transplant system and 

punish those responsible for abuses; and 

Whereas the killing of religious or political prisoners for the 

purpose of selling their organs for transplant is an egregious and intolerable violation of the fundamental right 

to life: Now, therefore, be it 


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•HRES 343 IH 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns the practice of state-sanctioned 

3 forced organ harvesting in the People’s Republic of 

4 China; 

5 (2) calls on the Government of the People’s Re6 public of China and Communist Party of China to 

7 immediately end the practice of organ harvesting 

8 from all prisoners of conscience; 

9 (3) demands an immediate end to the 16-year 

10 persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice by 

11 the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

12 and the Communist Party of China, and the imme13 diate release of all Falun Gong practitioners and 

14 other prisoners of conscience; 

15 (4) encourages the United States medical com16 munity to help raise awareness of unethical organ 

17 transplant practices in China; 

18 (5) calls on the People’s Republic of China to 

19 allow a credible, transparent, and independent inves20 tigation into organ transplant abuses; and 

21 (6) calls on the United States Department of 

22 State to conduct a more detailed analysis on state23 sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting 

24 prisoners of conscience in the annual Human Rights 

25 Report, and report annually to Congress on the imVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Jun 26, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR343.IH HR343

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•HRES 343 IH 

1 plementation of section 1182f of title 8, United 

2 States Code, barring provision of visas to Chinese 

3 and other nationals engaged in coerced organ or 

4 bodily tissue transplantation. 

Æ 


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